You need to see 'Chi-Raq' and talk about it

Part sermon, part stand-up special and largely, bizarrely entertaining, “Chi-Raq” likely will go down as the best (and only) rhyme-based, Greek play-inspired sex comedy to examine life in one of Chicago’s most violent neighborhoods.

For obvious reasons, this isn’t material that’s easily summarized. The title and perceived mission of director/co-writer Spike Lee’s satire, filmed here this summer, have stirred controversy for a long time, but this isn’t a repeat of the formerly hot-button “The Interview,” which inspired indifference rather than adoration or fury once people actually saw it. Some people will love “Chi-Raq,” and some will find it appalling. It’s incredibly ambitious, pretty weird and very much the work of Lee, a filmmaker long interested in fractured communities and sexual dynamics but never quite like this.

Please see it for yourself and let me know what you think.

In a star-making performance, Teyonah Parris (“Dear White People”) plays Lysistrata, who’s tired of the constant shootings in her Englewood community, many of which involve her boyfriend, a drill rapper proud to be known as Chi-Raq (Nick Cannon), whose dubiously located performance at Double Door ends in gunfire. (That occurs after the film’s electric opening, in which lyrics to Chi-Raq’s song “Pray 4 My City” appear on an otherwise blank screen). After a tip from Miss Helen (Angela Bassett) about a Liberian peace activist who advocated for a sex strike to remove one of men’s top priorities and foster change, with surprising ease Lysistrata organizes her friends, the significant others of the men of Chi-Raq’s rival gang (led by Wesley Snipes as Cyclops) and the rest of the area’s women. Unified declarations of “Lock it up!” and a refusal to grant access to the “nappy pouch” follow.

Despite this strategy’s apparent success in Liberia, the notion that withholding sex would derail widespread violence seems absurd as Lee glosses over the actual day-to-day impact of the strike, as if once Lysistrata takes action all gang activity ceases entirely. That takes something comedic into the realm of unconvincing fantasy, getting away from being useful. It’s questionable if “Chi-Raq” will add street-level dimension to what people know and don’t know about this crisis, which Chicagoans know exists beyond the South Side. Does Lee justify his approach, blending aspects to take very seriously and others to not take seriously at all? I’m not sure.

Yet the film isn’t trying to be a documentary or solve South Side neighborhoods’ complex problems. It converts a bullet-riddled war to a battle of the sexes for an optimistic, exhilaratingly musical provocation believing that change is possible and life can prevail. Cannon displays dramatic chops you probably didn’t know he had, and Samuel L. Jackson’s a riot in a narrator role not far removed from his declaring, “And that’s the truth, Ruth” in Lee's “Do the Right Thing.” It’s astounding how well-prepared the cast is for the dialogue’s often-flowing verse, which might have been awkward (like when “How I Met Your Mother” tried to string a bunch of rhymes together) but consistently locks in to feel effortless (almost like the bang-bang chatter of an Aaron Sorkin-scripted effort). Frequently the movie is, yes, kinda fun.

And it’s clear how much it takes to get to a place of stability. With characters like Miss Helen and John Cusack’s impassioned priest inspired by Father Michael Pfleger, of Saint Sabina in Auburn Gresham, the film very directly makes notes about the lack of, among other things, trauma centers and economic development on the South Side. A connection is made between the area and Selma. A shot of Mayor Emanuel’s “Building a new Chicago” sign clearly suggests that it’s not happening everywhere, playing a key role in lack of opportunity and the arguably pointless revolving door of deadly revenge. The Illinois Casket company’s sign ominously notes, “Open to the public,” a reminder of how many people need its services.

When Irene (Jennifer Hudson) attempts to wash the blood of her murdered young daughter from the street and we hear the actress singing on the soundtrack, it’s not a phony reminder that this is only a movie. It’s a brilliant way to show that Hudson may have a great voice and be a star, but that didn’t prevent her from experiencing this sort of tragedy firsthand. Her character declares to bystanders after discovering her child under a sheet, “It could be you next time.”

Fascinating. 3 stars (out of four)

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